Chocolate strawberry cupcakes with mascarpone frosting recipe

These irresistible chocolate strawberry cupcakes with mascarpone frosting are like no other cupcakes you had before. They start with melted chocolate …. And you know how I feel when a recipe starts with melted chocolate. Makes my heart sing!

I don’t know about you but chocolate and strawberry always gets me. And it’s not just around Valentine’s day! It’s year round! Especially this time of the year when the strawberries are in season and I get to go to a local strawberry patch and pick as many as I want. That after I eat to my heart desire, of course!

Don’t you just hate when you go to the grocery store and the only strawberries they have are bruised or smell like nothing. Yes, I’m that weird person who analyzes almost all the strawberry containers, sometimes even open them to ensure there are no mushy strawberries or worse, mold!

But no more grocery store strawberries! Just picked from the farm for the next couple of weeks! 

Now, these chocolate strawberry cupcakes! I’ve made them in anticipation of the strawberry season!

The only fresh strawberry is the one on top, but that doesn’t mean there’s no strawberry inside the cupcakes. I used strawberry preserve in the cupcake batter. Yes, the batter will be a little lumpy and not as silky smooth as you may be used to, but that’s OK. Once baked, the cupcakes will have the perfect texture.

And speaking of the cupcake batter. I did not use the classic technique of creaming the butter with the sugar.

No.

I melted the butter with the chocolate. Because all things good start with melted chocolate!

To the melted chocolate, you later add in the sugar, strawberry preserve, eggs, and flour. The good thing about these cupcakes is that you don’t necessary need to pull out the stand mixer for the batter. You can do it with a hand whisk or a spatula.

If you prefer to do make your cupcake batter by hand, you have to make sure your sugar is dissolved before adding the eggs.

I love Imperial Sugar extra fine granulated sugar for this job! Truth is, I use their sugar in all my recipes!

But their extra fine sugar is the best! It dissolved so fast, you don’t need to wear out your arm by stirring the cupcake batter for too long! You better save some of the energy to eat the cupcakes!

The recipe calls for self-rising flour.

If you do not have self-rising flour, use 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Sift everything together before adding to the cake batter.

For the mascarpone frosting, I followed my go-to cream cheese frosting but used mascarpone instead of cream cheese. I love its buttery sweeter taste compared to classic cream cheese and I feel it compliments perfectly these chocolate strawberry cupcakes. If you do not have mascarpone or don’t want to pay the high price for an 8 oz carton, use cream cheese.

Craving more? Join the Imperial Sugar Sweet Community!

Be sure to follow Imperial Sugar on social media, so you never miss an update!

Facebook |  Pinterest   |    Instagram  

[mpprecipe-recipe:650]

disclosure – this post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar. Although I’ve been compensated to develop the recipe and write this post, the opinions expressed here are all mine. thank you for supporting brands I love.